From Sir Jadeja, a troll to Sir Jadeja, an asset

Not often do you see someone outperforming Ravi Ashwin whether it’s the number of wickets in a match, the number of overs bowled or even the Test bowlers rankings for that matter. Especially, when it’s his spin twin Ravindra Jadeja. Yes, it’s a first. Jadeja, has indeed, outperformed his team-mate and closest competitor Ashwin.

Until a day back, the spin duo jointly dominated the No.1 spot, but today, Jadeja supersedes the other by 37 points. He stands with 899 points for himself, ahead of Ashwin and Sri Lankan spinner, Rangana Herath. The emphasis on the ratings is the focal point of discussion at the moment because it’s a sign that Jadeja is, in fact, becoming a threat even without the pitch helping him much.

From a left-arm spinner who played the role of cushioning the impact of India’s frontline bowler, Ravichanchandran Ashwin, he has now evolved into the one that is silently dominating the spin contingent at the moment. The home season has seen more run fests on flat pitches coupled with variable bounce that have produced some stellar fast-bowling spells than rank turners.

Blame it on the rants that India is a home track bully due to its innate spinning nature or the mere fact that curators have shifted their interests to the kind of pitches India has recently played on. The bottom line remains that the absence of rank turners has not affected Jadeja even a tad bit. His numbers establish that, in totality, he has taken 67 wickets at 22.98 with 4 five-wicket hauls in 24 innings this season.

Evolution and Kumble

A lot of experts suggest that one factor is the changes he has inculcated in his bowling, with a possible role of spin specialist and coach, Anil Kumble. While I myself might fail to point out what the subtle technical changes are, I can derive by observations carried on by analysts that the inference has now become the fact that Ashwin is not the only one with an expertise in spin variations. While

While his remain obvious and sharper to figure out, Jadeja has expanded his plethora of variations when it comes to pace and variation that remain subtler. And mind you, I don’t believe that he has upped his game with an intention to outdo anyone, but to mock at the labels he himself was made to carry along for a long time.

Tireless and accurate, he has been bowling darts like a bowling machine this entire season. Questions on Kohli’s tactics start to arise if he is underused or kept off the attack for too long. The crowd chants his name to bring Jaddu to bowl a spell. And Kohli listens, he has to.

That’s what it has been like for Jadeja, lately. The captain’s strategies were criticized when he waited too long to bring the left-arm spinner on. And, when he did, he ripped the line-up apart with a six-fer.

Interestingly (rather, funnily), he loves to take on the captains and has made them his bunny on various instances:

One for all pitches types

Sir is so great, he doesn’t differentiate between a spinning track or one that is more suited to the batsmen. As the season progressed, we saw Jadeja achieving success against varying opposition on varying surfaces.

You give him Chepauk, he will give you 7 wickets in an innings. You give him Wankhede, he will still give you total 6. Take him to Chinnaswamy, and he’ll bring you a 6-fer. It doesn’t stop yet, a flat road at Ranchi would do too, he’ll still get a fifer.

And what would you credit that for? There’s so much. But the fact that his adaptability is so good is indeed admirable. I mean, the venues have been moving North-South-West-East in India, but this man has not failed to mould his bowling according to the conditions and the nature of the wicket.

The Warrior and his Sword

While the emphasis was meant to be around his evolution as a bowler, his contribution with the bat has been immense as well, and you can’t leave that ignored. There is no doubt now, that the Indian batting lineup goes deep and Jadeja’s doing his best with the bat too.

He has overall 988 runs in 29 matches at an average of 27.44 in Tests. Interestingly, 515 of them have come in the 13 matches of the 2016-17* season at an average of 36.78. It is during this season too, that he also registered a 90, his highest score in Tests against England at Mohali.

Filling for his twin

When Ashwin suffered a dip in form back, Jadeja became India’s lead spinner on the tours of South Africa and New Zealand in 2013-14 and the first part of their England tour of 2014. His success may have differed then and it’s still too early to say if Ashwin’s form is not at its peak, but Jadeja sure has become an independent entity if not the leader of the pack.

He has transformed from a support bowler to someone who jointly leads the pack, from someone who bowled under the shadow of Ashwin, it is now that he has truly become Jadeja, the spinner. It may sound oddly-funny and melodramatic, but he has made the change from being the moon that borrowed light from the Sun to reflect to being the source of light himself.

It’s been a shift so big that the term Sir Jadeja too has undergone an evolution- once a joke, then a social media meme, but now an exclamation of praise. Now when most of us say Sir Jadeja, we actually mean it.